We are four humble men who love sports, but hate sports commentary. Peter Gammons is our hero and John Madden is our enemy. If you were to ask us our purpose, our answer would be simple: "We are forever locked in Mortal Kombat for the souls of sports fans everywhere. Statistics are our science and 'the immeasurable character of men' is the obsolete religion of blind faith. Our job is to prove that God doesn't exist and that athletes are merely cold, metal machines with no hearts or souls."

Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, most notable for collecting box score and scanning baseball history to make sure no one has ever been hit in the head twice in the same game, when played at night, on turf, and a lefty on the mound, recently wrote a piece proclaiming Jason Marquis baseball's grindiest winner since Derek Jeter.

The remarkable Colorado Rockies are making their push to the playoffs, which should come as no surprise because, after all, Jason Marquis is on the team.

Yes, of course, whenever I think of a team fighting for a playoff spot, Jason Marquis is always at the for-front

If the Rockies pull off this extraordinary comeback to make the postseason, Marquis will become the first player in major league history whose teams have made the playoffs in each of his first 10 seasons, playing for at least three teams.

Kurkjian went through his box score collection and found Marquis to possibly be the first to make the playoffs every year, since year one, for at least 3 teams. He forgot mention being the first Jew. I wonder if Ernie Banks was the first player to never make the playoffs, from year one, while playing for the same team. And not being Jewish. Obviously, they should replace the Banks statue outside Wrigley with Jason Marquis' jew-fro

So, is it skill or luck?

I can't wait to find out. Does the below average pitcher, who has been left off the playoff roster multiple times for multiple teams, has an uncanny skill of putting his team in the playoffs

"I firmly believe that pitching is all about winning. I've averaged 14 wins a year for six years, so I was contributing...It's nice to have a 2.00 ERA, win Cy Young Awards, strike out a lot of hitters and make All-Star teams, but the idea is to win games. And it doesn't matter how you do it. I am a baseball player who can pitch.''

Pitching is actually about getting hitters out. That is all. You can do it with strikeouts, groundballs, or an Andy Pettitte pick-off move, but it's all about outs. He has averaged 14 wins a year, since 2004, lets disregard those 4 years you spent in Atlanta. Let's also disregard the 4.6 ERA you contributed to the team.

He has a chance to set the Rockies' club record for wins in a season with 17, held by Kevin Ritz, Pedro Astacio and Jeff Francis, and he has a shot to set the club record for the lowest ERA in a season, held by Joe Kennedy (3.66) in 2004.

Who, who, is he still alive, and who? Does Kurkjian know about the humidor? You see how Helton is no longer hitting 110 XBH per season and every game isn't 12-11

"I have been more consistent...My stuff has always been good, but I'd have three good starts, then two bad starts. I just go about my business"

Great stuff? According to fangraphs, the fastball, curveball, and change have all been raped over the course of Mrquis' career. His most successful pitch, being the cutter, he only throws 3% of the time. 3 good starts, 2 bad ones, yup that's what Marquis considers consistent.

But now he is one of the top pitchers on a team that has become the seventh in league history to go from 12 games under .500 to 15 games over .500 in the same season.

Kurkjian really needs to put down the box scores. Are you sure it's only the 7th time in the same season? What about seasons separated by a decade? has any team been 12 games under one year and then up 15 games 10 years later? I need to know!!

"When you combine competitiveness with good mechanics,'' Marquis said, "the sky is the limit.''

Wait, I thought it was about winning and nothing else?! Selfish bastard

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comments:

Why does T.K. love marquis' 3.6 ERA (Ubaldo's is 3.33) and 14 wins (De La Rosa has 12...does that count for anything?)?? Marquis' career 4.82 FIP has only once (this season, at 3.98) been below 4.40 (league avg is 4.35 this season).

HE IS NOT GOOD. CUBS FANS DO NOT MISS HIM (they do miss Wuertz and DeRo, however, as their lack of offense and poor bullpen can attest).

The real mystery here is how a groundballer who doesn't give up a lot of groundballs succeeds. Usually pitchers who walk almost as many batters as they strike out get burned bad. They usually have Jason Marquis like numbers. How is Jason Marquis -- IN COORS OF ALL PLACES -- not sucking? I guess TBO's postulation that Coors field is no longer a HR park may be sadly true...